Hunt for power grid saboteur: explosives found in flat, twelve detonators discovered in Saxony
Police are publicly searching for Daniel V. (48), who is suspected of sabotaging transformer stations. Explosives were found in his flat, and twelve detonators were discovered in East Saxony.
Climate terrorism suspicion: nationwide hunt for Daniel V.
Following a series of sabotage attacks on transformer stations in Germany, police are searching for 48-year-old suspect Daniel V. using photographs, according to 20 Minuten.
On Friday, officers searched his flat in Gevelsberg and secured explosives. In the afternoon, a special operations unit stormed a lorry about 100 kilometres away in the woods near Niederzier, which appeared to have been converted into a motorhome. The wanted man was not found there.
The search was triggered by two letters of confession that are in the possession of several media outlets. In them, V. states that he wants to combat fossil fuel sources – including brown coal. The targeted transformer stations were located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Saxony – all states in which brown coal continues to be mined and used for electricity generation.
"The knowledge that is revealed in these letters, that is clear evidence of the perpetrator's knowledge," said Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. He described the acts as very probably "climate terrorism" by an individual perpetrator. In one of the letters, it states: "Electricity generation from fossil fuels is a crime."
North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul warned of the consequences of such attacks: anyone who endangers the electricity supply to hospitals in the name of climate protection does not save anything but endangers lives. "No ideology serves as an excuse," Reul emphasised.
In East Saxony, police discovered twelve detonators on power transmission lines. According to security authorities, these were intended to cause damage to high-voltage power lines through a short circuit. The home-made devices were defused by specialists from the State Criminal Office.
An investigation is now underway on suspicion of causing an explosion from explosives in conjunction with attempted disruption of public utilities and attempted sabotage hostile to the constitution.
Source: 20 Minuten